Dissertation
Rethinking social phenotypes: personality, plasticity and the effects of the social environment on the social behaviour of eastern water dragons
University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Sunshine Coast
2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25907/00268
Abstract
Social interactions between conspecifics are important agents of selection for individuals. Moreover, the potential costs and benefits of sociality will be heavily dependent on the current environmental conditions and, in particular, the composition and identity of conspecifics contained within the social environment. As a result, an individual's social environment presents a complex and dynamic set of selective pressures, such as social conflict and competition, through which gregarious animals must navigate. In addition, there are multiple ways that individuals may engage in affiliative social behaviour, all of which may be optimal in different situations. To understand how animals negotiate the selective pressures which the social environment enacts, research focussed on the relationship between the social environment and individuals' affiliative behaviours is needed. In this thesis, I use data from an ongoing longitudinal study of eastern water dragons to explore the relationship between individuals' social behaviours and their social environment. Eastern water dragons are a gregarious reptile with fission-fusion-like social dynamics. Females are polyandrous and males display alternative mating tactics, plastically switching between territoriality and satellite mating behaviour.
Details
- Title
- Rethinking social phenotypes: personality, plasticity and the effects of the social environment on the social behaviour of eastern water dragons
- Authors
- Kasha Strickland
- Contributors
- Celine H Frere (Supervisor)
- Awarding institution
- University of the Sunshine Coast
- Degree awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- DOI
- 10.25907/00268
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; GeneCology Research Centre - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451326702621
- Output Type
- Dissertation
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